Contemplating Love
by Tari Silmarwen
Summary: Rina looks out the window and ponders this strange feeling that has afflicted her. One-shot. Masahiro/Rina


(A/N)- Finally got around to uploading some Mermaid Melody fanfic. This one has been in the works for a while actually but I just managed to finish it today. Gave some love to my Mermaid Melody OTP Masahiro and Rina of course. The idea started out pretty generic but then while I was archive binging on Pure episodes my ficcer's side got inspired. You remember Episode 30 when we open on Rina and Masahiro enjoying a boat ride together? My writer's side started wondering how exactly they got to be in this position, together, alone, in the first place.

So I let her run free and this is what resulted. Just a little short and sweet something. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Those of you who know me already know I like writing creative/funny disclaimers. Those of you who don't know me... welcome. It's a pleasure to disavow my possesion of the anime known as Mermaid Melody and the characters and plotlines therein to you.

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**Contemplating Love**

The sea was exceptionally pretty today and the breeze was crisp and clean. The wind blew stray strands of her hair away from her face and she could smell the sweet saltiness of the ocean drifting on it. She remembered the last time it had been this nice outside.

That was the day she'd met him, Rina thought with a small smile as she looked out the window of her room at the bay below.

Masahiro Hamasaki.

Loathe as she'd been to admit it, there'd been something about him that had just made her heart flutter. She'd tried telling herself she was ill, that she'd just caught some kind of weird bug or flu that made her heart race and her skin flush feverishly when he was around. She'd tried to convince herself that he was just a friend, an accquaintance, a nice boy.

Anything to avoid the possibilty that she was... in love.

She had told herself it wasn't possible. She had to be mistaken. She didn't fall in love. That just didn't happen to her. There couldn't have been any way that she, who had always been so strong and independant, could lose all her strength with a single look, a single smile, an arm placed around her shoulders as she froze up, blushing furiously. But they had all been lies. No matter how hard she tried to deny it, she couldn't cover up the truth.

She, Rina Toin, was in love.

She'd had trouble admitting it aloud of course. Whenever Lucia or Hanon would probe her for information or tease her good-naturedly about it she would tense and fervently deny any such attractions they were insinuating existed between her and the motorcycle-riding sweetheart. Even now that she and Masahiro were dating (sort of), it was hard to say everything that was in her heart, hard to even speak around him, especially when he looked at her with those wonderful gray eyes... It was painfully obvious how she felt in her actions however, and that was how Rina had been depending on conveying her feelings to him.

Rina stood at her open window and breathed in the briny air, her eyes closed in contentment.

Being in love, she'd noticed, also had the strange side-effect of making one more acutely aware of the beauty of things. For weeks now, little things like wildflowers growing in the cracks of the sidewalk, the soft shapes of clouds, and the tiny glitter in the sand on the beach had been standing out to her. And she also felt that strange sense of empowerment that she'd seen before in Lucia and Hanon, empowerment fueled by love that had more than once saved their skins in battle. She felt like she could take on all the water demons in the ocean, all at once, like there was no force on earth or in the sea able to stop her from attaining victory if it meant protecting Masahiro and the world he lived in from harm.

How odd that love could be both so crippling and enabling at the same time. She mused on the paradox for a moment, opening her eyes and gazing out to sea. The waves rolled in gently, folding over each other like blue silk. The gulls circling high above gave faint, far-away calls.

_Knock! Knock!_

Her quiet contemplation was suddenly broken by a noise behind her. Someone was at her door.

She pushed her hair back and turned around. "Come in." she called.

A familiar face framed by loose shaggy hair and sporting glasses poked in.

"Rina-chan?"

"Masahiro!" Rina said, surprised. She could already feel a slight flush warming her cheeks. "How... how did you know where I live?" she asked.

Masahiro stepped into the room and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I saw your friend Hanon outside school today and I asked her where I could find you." He lowered his hand, expression growing slightly concerned. "I... hope that's okay. I'm not being intrusive am I?"

Rina shook her head. "No. No, not at all."

He smiled. "Good. Then I'd like to ask you something." he said, stepping closer.

"What is it?"

"Go on a boat ride with me tomorrow afternoon?"

The hopelessly lovesick girl inside her immediately wanted to clamor, "YES!" but her practical side's instincts raised an alarm at the word 'boat' and stayed her enthusiasm. Boats meant the ocean. The ocean meant a risk of transforming into her mermaid form. She hadn't yet considered how to clue him into that particular attribute of her life. At least in a way that wouldn't get her turned into bubbles.

"A-ah..." she stammered. "I, uh... that is... I don't swim." she lied.

He chuckled. "You won't have to." Reaching out, he took her hand and lifted it up to his shoulder level. Rina felt her heart give a flutter at the courtly gesture. Masahiro gave her a warm smile and said, "We can stay on the boat the whole time, if you'd prefer. I'd just like to spend a little time with you." His eyes pleaded gently with her. "Please?"

Months ago, she might've put up a protest. She might've attempted to brush him off, or bluster and insist she wasn't interested. Now, all she could do was smile, her eyes glinting, and breathe his name.

"Masahiro..."

She collected herself before she could dissolve into molten liquid at his gentle gaze. "I would be honored." she told him happily.

Masahiro's grin stretched wider and he leaned in for a quick peck on Rina's cheek. "Then I shall see you tomorrow, about three? Would you like me to pick you up here?"

Still dazed from his kiss, Rina murmured, "Yes... that would be... yes."

Masahiro dropped her hand and moved off to the door. He sent her a small wave as he left. "See you then!"

She stared after him as he disappeared around the corner. Her heart thumped quietly in her chest. She touched her cheek, her fingers brushing the spot where Masahiro's lips had been. She let out a happy sigh.

There was no question about it, no denying her feelings. She was in love.

And her world seemed so much more better because of it.


End file.
